Activism

Lessing's introductory comments on her play, addressed to potential directors, state that Play with a Tiger is "about the rootless, de-classed people who live in bed-sitting rooms or small flats or the cheaper hotel rooms." "Such people," she says, "are usually presented on the stage in a detailed squalor of realism which to my mind detracts from what is interesting about them." Of interest to Lessing in particular appears to be the way in which many of these persons choose their peripheral status in their pursuit of alternative social and political convictions. To be sure, Lessing's major characters in Play with a Tiger are, or until recently have been, committed political activists, wholly dedicated to their project of changing the world for the better. Their quick, complex speech is delivered with passion; their every act, every moment, is of the essence.